Many athletic and manual based activities require participants to tolerate and counteract particular pull-based forces. Pull-based forces are defined as forces that are directed away from a particular portion of a participant's body. For example, a mason lifts bricks which due to their inherent weight cause a gravitational pulling force. The brick layer must counteract in order to transfer the bricks from one location to another. Likewise, the sport of water skiing requires participants to continually grasp a tow rope handlebar and counteract pulling forces so as to maintain a standing position over the water with one or more ski platforms. The continual or repeated counteraction of these types of pulling forces causes muscular strain on particular portions of the human body and may therefore prevent or limit participation in these activities. Older or disabled individuals in particular may be unable to withstand the necessary muscular strain and may therefore be forced to abstain or minimize the time in which they engage in these types of activities. Likewise, able bodied participants may become fatigued as a result of the required muscular strain and thus be forced to restrict the duration of which they participate in these activities.
Unfortunately, existing systems have failed to adequately solve this problem. Numerous ergonomic systems are designed to prevent injury and reduce strain by maintaining proper postural alignment. However, proper posture does not significantly reduce muscular strains associated with pulling forces. Other systems provide an artificial anatomical support structure in order to absorb forces upon the body. For example, lower lumbar type support belts commonly compress and/or support the lower region of a wearer's torso and back to absorb forces that may otherwise cause injury. However, these systems also fail to affect all of the muscles involved in counteracting pulling forces such as hands, arms, upper back, etc. In addition, various adjustments may be made to the item in direct contact with a participant during pull based force activities. For example, water ski tow rod/handlebar surface area textures improve frictional forces with a user's hand in an effort to reduce grip based muscular strain. Likewise, a mason may use various pincher type tools to pick up bricks to eliminate grip strain. These systems fail to adequately accommodate the multiplicity of independent muscular strains involved in the counteraction of pull-based forces.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry for a load distribution system that effectively minimizes the muscular strains involved in activities that require counteracting pulling forces.